RP2 Series Ep 2: New Friends & Old Enemies Pt 2
by Lady Starscream
Summary: Part 2: Shadows of the Past. The Rangers were a Decepticon gestalt group, till one of them left and became an Autobot, that is. Now they want her back. And Shadow's younger brother has been caught up in all this. Can she rescue him from the Decepticons?
1. Chapter 1

Like most RP fics, this starts where the last one ends, prettymuch. Excellion (SpiritPrime) has joined the RP to play as Optimus Prime, and will be bringing in her fancharacter, later on.

As for right now, here's the ones we've got:

LadyStarscream:

**the Kintaari Marauders (Autobot faction):**

Driveby: Toyota Camry

Cable: Ford Festiva

Cap: Challenger II Tank

Gunlock: R.A.F. Avro-Vulcan B1 Stealth jet

Ty: Chevy Blazer

Beacon: MQ-1 Pretator (mini spy-plane)

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**other chars:**

Hammertread: MA1 Abrams tank

Jade: F15E (strike) Eagle (seekerjet)

Rampage's girl (kittar):

Alpha: blue Ford F-150 pickup truck

Omega (black jet)

Kit (white tiger cub)

Terrablast (femmebat)

Cyberfin (shark)

DarkStatic (shadow)

**the Decepticon Rangers:**

DarkClaw: Griffen

Sky: Phoenix

Windwhisper: wolf

Saber: (sabertooth) tiger

**other characters:**

Shadow: red-on-black dragon (Was a Ranger, but left and became an autobot)

Bluestatic: Lamborgini Galleiro (Shadow's little brother)

SpiritPrime (excellion)

Blazestorm: silver/grey western dragon (winged american dragon)

(also does the part of Optimus Prime in chapter 2 on)

Other fanchars might appear later (this is still going, so none of us really know what's going to happen next.)

Their profiles will be added as they appear. Existing Fancharacter profiles can be found at the beginning of any of the RP fics, or at Shadow, Kittar, Excellion, and L.S.'s journals:

Shadow's journal: http:// darkstatic. livejournal. com

Kittar's journal: http:// kittar. livejournal. com (Rampage's girl over here)

Excellion's journal: http:// excellion. livejournal. com (SpiritPrime over here)

LadyStarscream's journal: http:// jadeseeker. livejournal. com

Just take out the spaces after the dots.

I'll add the full profiles as soon as I find them. :-)


	2. Chapter 2

Megatron finalized his plans with soundwave, and made sure the Constructicons were fully recharged and ready to go. If his plan worked. he'd be rid of several pains in the diodes, and have Shadow back. He reminded himself to have her memory banks wiped as soon as they reached the Nemesis. But that was later, after everything else was taken care of.

"I'm telling you it won't work!" Starscream's rasping screech was starting to get on his nerves. He didn't feel like arguing with the arrogant seeker again today. But starscream followed him as he walked, voicing his dire predictions the entire way down the hall. "Have you forgotten what happened last time we tried to recapture that dragon-bot! I nearly got my wings ripped off!!" Starscream's voice rose a little. Megatron stopped and turned around so abruptly, Starscream nearly ran into him.

"And I'll rip your wings off if you don't SHUT UP!" Megatron growled, then turned and stalked down the hall, leaving Starscream standing in the middle of the corridor to ponder whether his threat carried any weight or not. He mumbled. "I'm telling you it won't work." and walked the other direction.

Sky grimaced slightly at the thought of anyone losing their wings otherwise the former seeker simply stood with the others and watched the two walk in different directions. He cast an almost amused look back to DarkClaw who shruged. The five of them were still quite a bit mift at the forced separation but they had been able to look into Shadow's mind and were quite a bit relieved at what they had found there; all five had gained a new sense of stability from their brief merge and that just made them all the more dangerous.

-------------------------

Shadow was curled up in her own room her tail wrapped around her body her wings gently over her side with her head tucked under. Outside she seemed peaceful but inside her spark hurt; she couldn't believe what they had made her do. She had hated every moment of it the pain of what she had indured and had been forced to do hurt emotionall but what was worse was that a small part of her enjoyed it. If anything this worried her; Shadow had long since been able to shut off her emotions as they had often become a liability but right now she let them rome free for a while so that when she was ready she would be able to meet the others face to face without any feelings at all she just hoped they would forgive her.

Bluestatic however wasn't too good at sitting still his headache had cleared and he felt a lot better but instead of going outside he pulled out a few of his spare parts and started to tinker; smiling slightly completely and utterly lost in what he was doing.

Prime walked up to shadow's door, not sure what to say. He had to find out exactly what happened from her before jumping to any conclusions. Cliffjumper and a couple of others were allready pointing the finger in her direction. He rang the doorchime.

Shadow uncurled when the door chime rang she looked up in confusion before settling herself down again so she could see the door she spoke in a clear voice "Come in" her claws scratched the berth a little; after all she thought it was probably 'static getting stuck on something again.

Shadow started a bit when Prime entered but concealed it very well, that only her tail betrayed her worry. "yes sir; how can I help?" she asked, keeping her voice tone level.

Prime walked in, letting the door shut behind him before speaking. "I read your report, and I wanted to speak with you directly about what happened."

---------

Meanwhile, wheeljack was having trouble on one of his newest gadgets. A miniature power inverter-type-thingie, and thought maybe Static could help. It would make him feel better, too. The kid had been through a lot lately. With the round device carefully tucked under one arm, Wheeljack made his way to the mech's quarters. He spotted Prime around the corner and paused. he knew Prime usually didn't trust his work that much, and had told him to keep his inventions-work in his workshop, in case anything went awry. That way it would explode or whatever on the exterior of the ark, instead of inside the dormant volcano. Once Prime had dissapeared into shadows quarters, the Lancia walked up, pausing at Shadow's door to try and get a listen to what they were saying.

Prime tried to pretend not to notice her nervousness. "I came to discuss what happened with the Decepticons yesterday." he informed her.

--------

Wheeljack decided against eavesdropping. The Ark was small enough, he'd know what was going on soon enough. and not from cliffjumper. There were others who could give more accurate accounts of the situation. He rang Bluestatic's doorchime.

Alpha and Omega sat in the rec room, watching Monday night Raw, when Undertaker appeared. THe two grinned and watched him and Kane woop the crap out of Rated RKO.

"Cool."

"Neat."

"I've seen better moves in person." Hammertread grumbled half-heartedly from where he was sitting.

Cliffjumper, Brawn, and Windcharger walked in, sitting at one of the tables across the room from them.

"Oh quit yer grumblin', HT!" Alpha and Omega grunted out as HBK wacked Edge on the head with a chair. "Ooh..."

Kit giggled. "HBK rules..."

"Yup." Alpha agreed. "Ain't afriad t' get his hands dirty for his friends. Or teammate." She nodded.

Alpha yelped as Triple H wacked the Masterpiece with a barbed wire covered bat.

"Ow."

Jade wandered in, Cable and Beacon in tow.

Cliffjumper looked over and whispered something to Brawn.

"leave 'em alone Cliffjumper. They can't help it they can't decide which side to be loyal to." He replied, purposely saying it loud enough for them to overhear.

Hammetread didn't bother with a reply. He simply stood and cracked his knuckles, smirking like "Go ahead, start something."

Alpha stood in front of Hammertread. Her optics glowed a demon green and a chair flew, wacking the two in the head. "Say something again and I swear...next time it'll be heavier." She growled.

Omega laughed. His visor turned a blood red. "I'm with my sis on this one."

All three minibots stood up simultaneously. They would usually back down, but not this time.

Cliffjumper looked at Brawn, who cracked his knuckles back. "Whattya gonna do, beat us to death with chairs?" Cliffjumper quipped.

Jade eeped softly and started for the door. "Seems a few of you are smart enough to know when to run away." Brawn looked over at Jade and friends, who stopped and turned around.  
"Let's just go, forget what they said." Cable eeped from behind the jet.

Jade narrowed her optics and glanced at HT, who grinned back. "We outnumber them." she noted out loud, where they could hear.

"And Prime's gonna have out heads if we start a fight!" Cable replied nervously.

"Yeah, whattya afraid of?" Cliffjumper called.

Windcharger looked away. He didn't like where this was going. He didn't want to be in a fight, but couldn't very well walk away without his friends holding it against him.

Alpha and Omega used their powers to make a table hit them. "We're Autobots, ya troublemaker. ALL of us. And you think otherwise...well...you're wrong." Both growled, their optics/visor glowing brighter. "Leave them alone." Alpha glanced at Jade and the others, telling them to boot scoot.

Brawn tossed a chair back. "We're not wimps, like you, and we're not backing down this time."

Hammertread started forward. He knew how to scrap mechs his own size easily, and they knew that, too.

"hmm. This isn't gonna even be a challenge." he noted, looking up and down the trio.

Windcharger gulped.

"Get Prime." Jade whispered to Beacon.

The light grey-colored ex-courier turned and slipped out of the room. "Speed don't let me down now!" he had once been a message carrier, and hoped he could still be that fast in finding Prime, before something went seriously awry.

"Guys." Jade said out loud. "Stop. You have a problem with each other, talk it out like mature Cybertronians, not trying to beat each other into submission like children."

Alpha raised her hand and the chair broke apart before it even hit. Her emerald optics narrowed and she stood proudly. "You calling me a whimp?" She asked.

The twins looked at each other and then raised their arms. Every piece of furniture that could move was lifted into the air. They were all pointed at the mini bots and Alpha growled.

"Call us that again. See what happens."

---------------------

"Oh great I'm in huge trouble" Shadow thought "Err what about it sir?" Shadow asked her voice again level as she stretched out into a sitting position; allowing Prime somewhere to sit if he chose to. Her tail wrapped tightly about her legs as she looked him in the optic. "Whatever happens I hope it'll be for the best"; she thought to herself.

"I was wondering about your relationship with the other members of your gestalt group. I know you were not in control of your actions when you merged with them, but there is a rather stong bond between members of a gestalt group. The Aerialbots have such a bond. You told me you didn't want to ever merge with them again, but since it has happened, I'm given to think that bond may have been strengthened?" he looked her in the optic, hoping for some explanation. He knew she might deny it, but the bond was there, whether she knew it or not.

He knew she had to feel it, though.

Meanwhile next door Bluestatic was very content except for the naging feeling that something wasn't quite right. He jumped when his door chime rang "Come in!" he called out before looking down at the parts splayed about all over the floor.

Wheeljack walked in. "Hey Static, I was having a problem with this energy inverter, and I was hoping you could help." he gave the flashing earfin equivalent of a smile, a warm blue color.

Shadow's tail flicked..."oh dear" she thought "The bond is there; I usually just bury it with Static around it's never really strong enough to cause me to do very much except have a tendancy to be a bit snappish. But yes you are correct, it is a little stronger. I can feel them and flippin heck I hate it." She hissed slightly.

"Sadly there isn't very much anyone can do about; Shockwave made pretty sure of it" Shadow maintained optic contact; no she couldn't deny the bond it had always been there and would always be there that nagging part of her spark that relished in it she hated most of all.

Bluestatic's optics brightened as he motioned for Wheeljack to sit down with him. "Sure I'd love to!" he exclaimed. Wheeljack had just made Bluestatic a very happy autobot.

Wheeljack set the device carefully on the table and pulled out the schematics. The secondary charge repetitional regulation circuits mismatching polarities. I can't seem to figure out why.

He set down the datapad with the schematics and turned it on, a hologram of the schematics appeared.  
Bluestatic studied the schematics carefully "have you tried reversing the powercouplinks?" he asked before oserving the device carefully his electricity was most likely of an opposite polarity to what the device used so he had to be careful not to acidently discharge any of it while in it's vicinity.

Prime nodded. "Maybe the technology that enables the gestalt bonding can be removed. I don't want there to even be the chance for you to become reconnected to them, or be more inclined to." he knew if they were spark-bonded like the Aerialbots were, the other members of her group could see and hear almost everything she was. "I want you to consult with Ratchet on it. Until then, if it is the same as any other gestalt, they can most likely see and hear eveything you are. I'm confining to quarters, except for when you are in the repairbay." he said decidedly.

His comm dinged. He listened to the transmission for a minute, then stood. "Excuse me, I have some other matters to tend to." he said in a sighing tone.

Shadow nodded though she doubted it would be possible it was still better safe than sorry. "Seems fair to me; I do wish this had never happened" she replied sounding tired and for once a lot older than she actually was "Though sir if you don't mind I'll need to be let out sometime" she motioned to her wings. Fliers if kept inside too long; go mad. "Otherwise I'll do so as soon as possible". Shadow couldn't intercept comms but she did know that tone of voice very well she nodded and saluted as was polite.

Prime nodded. "I'll go talk to him after I see to the problem in the rec. room."

Prime wanted to facepalm. He allready knew it was Cliffjumper. He'd heard all about the squabble in the med. bay earlier.

"Thank you sir" shadow replied somehow getting the feeling that someone was stirring up trouble. It was one of the reasons she was glad she only had her brother to deal with.

"No, I didn't try that." wheeljack pulled out a circuit adjuster and fiddled with the device for a second.

"Could you hold that wire back for me for a second. I don't want it to touch the adjuster, or it'll double- back to current."

Wheeljack leaned in to get a closer look.

Yeah sure" Bluestatic replied making sure to grab the insulated part of the wire. He watched with eager optics as Wheeljack checked the device out; all the while keeping the wire a safe distance and his electricity down.

Prime tried to think about what he was going to say. The rec. room doors slid open to reveal an almost palpable tension.

And every peice of furniture in the room floating.

He sighed.

"Alpha, put the furniture down. Our budget won't support paying for another entire set of furniture." he facepalmed.

Jade glanced at him with a thankfull look.

Cliffjumper, Brawn, and Windcharger noticed him. "They started it!" Cliffjumper exclaimed.

"Uh-huh. I'm sure they did." Prime replied in an unbelieving tone.

Alpha said something snarky under her breath. "Can you at least keep the furniture out of the fight?" He eyed the table on it's side leaning against the wall next to the trio, and bits of chair scattered around both parties. Well, at least he had stopped the fight before it could get too far...

Alpha huffed, but lowered the furniture. "There. It's out. Now..." Her optics glowed a demon green as she lifted Cliffjumper into the air. "Apoligize to them. NOW!"

Omega grinned. "Do as she says. An angry gaurdian of the Earth isn't smart."

Prime looked at the floating minispy. "Put Cliffjumper down, Alpha." he deadpanned.

HT snickered.

----------------

"I think that's got it." wheeljack stood up. "Wanna turn it on for a second and see?"

Bluestatic nodded and carefully turned the machine on making ready to duck if he needed to after all it wasn't that he distrusted wheeljack but a walking conductor around any electrical device was never a good thing.

Shadow lay back down as soon as prime left and curled up in on herself well that could have gone worse she thought to herself; idly wondering if she was going to get any visitors.

Wheeljack turned the device on, and it started to hum steadily, then there was a crackling sound and a nanoclick later...

"BOOOOM!"

The black smoke was so thick, it made Wheeljack cough, and try to wave away the thick black cloud that threatened to fill the small room.

The base's alarm went off.

"Aww, man!" he complained. "And Prime's gonna be mad! I'm supposed to keep this stuff in the workshop!"

In the rec. room, Prime almost audibly groaned. "What NOW!" he thought.

Alpha grinned at the order, thinking like the Decepticon she had once been. She dropped Cliffjumper, not at all gently, so the mini spy landed on his HEAD. She laughed and crossed her arms. "Done." She giggled.

Both her and Omega's optics went back to normal.

They jumped at the noise and Alpha groaned. "Jack..."

Bluestatic ducked as it started to crackle though nothing flew at him he did find himself on the floor crawling towards the door to try to ventilate the smoke. "Don't worry about it too much you can say it was my fault no one's told me yet not to tweak stuff in my room. he spoke as he opened the door coughing slightly.

Next door Shadow was up in a flash and poked her head out of her room "Static what the blazes did you do?" she yelled somehow knowing that he'd been tinkering again. Meh if she was really unlucky she'd end up having him bunking with her. Maybe someone else wouldn't mind this time either that or her bad luck was finally changing.

Sunstreaker down the hallway poked his head out the door before giving an irritable sound and moving back inside again; most likely to tell Sideswipe what had just happened.

Inferno, Hoist, and Ratchet all ran to Bluestatic's quarters.

"It's... okay..." wheeljack coughed. "We were just..."

Prime appeared around the smoke.

"Wheeljack, I thought I had told you to keep your inventions in the workshop."

Their comm's clicked on, and red Alert's voice yelled "I THOUGHT YOU TOLF HIM TO KEEP HIS INVENTIONS IN THE WORKSHOP! DO YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF THE EXPLOSION HAD BEEN ANY BIGGER YOU COULD HAVE DESTABLIZED THE MOUNTAIN, IT'S ALLREADY COLLAPSING ON PARTS OF THE SHIP! aND WHAT IF SOMEONE HAD BEEN HURT!"

"Red, calm down, nobody was injured in the explosion." Prime calmly replied.

"Explosion!? EXPLOSION!!" Red Alert started complaining again, and Prime eyed the pair.

"Sorry, Prime" wheeljack looked at the floor.

The minispy trio had been kicked out of the rec. room, so they wandered the ship for something else to do. Jade watched them leave, and Beacon, who'd come back with Prime and Cable took a spot at the table next to Alpha, Omega, and group.

Omega rolled his optics. "Sheesh...someone's angry." He muttered, hearing the distant shouting of one sorely peeved security director.

Jade glanced at the leaving trio.  
"What they heck were trying to start trouble for? We didn't do anything. Sheesh." She got comfy on the couch, and turned up the tv a little.

Alpha snorted at the minispies and flipped them off before leaning against the wall.

"Don't look at me, Jade. I don't know." Alpha huffed, sitting on a chair, which was floating in the air.

"WEEEEE!!" Kit cheered as she jumped from flying table to table.

Said jet blinked. "I wasn't accusing you, Alpha. They're allways looking for trouble. I just wonder what set 'em off." she looked over at Kit. "Didn't Prime tell you to leave the furniture on the floor? He'll have another fit if something gets broken." She watched the white tiger cub hop from table to table. "After the last big brawl, Prime had to buy a whole new set of tables and chairs, and the stupid humans charged us extra just because they were Transformer-sized." She shook her head at that. Sometimes humans were just mean about getting a profit from whoever. They didn't even care who it was, so long as they were making money. Any excuse to charge extra, and they would.

"I know...Kit..."

The tiger cub pouted. "But-"

"Kitten..."

"Alright..." Kit jumped on Hammertread's head.

Alpha laughed as she put the tables down.

Shadow just snarled from where she was leaning out of her room if she wasn't restricted she probably would have thwaped her brother upside the head as it was she couldn't right now. Instead she settled with glaring.

Bluestatic looked a little ashamed "Sir it's really my fault I didn't know and well I guess I like to tinker a little too much" he spoke up "I'm sorry it won't happen again!" he tried to amend, looking a little ashamed of himself. He looked over to his glaring sister and half wondered why she hadn't come over and hit him yet. He gave her his best big opticed look he could hoping it might calm her down a tad.

Prime sighed (for, like, the thirteenth time today), and said. "It's allright, just... next time, please do your tinkering in the workshop." Wheeljack looked a litle relieved.

Shadow gave in a smiled a little she was proud of him; she knew what Static was like and she was proud he's owned up to it.

Bluestatic just nodded a little relieved he'd gotten off so lightly "I will sir" he replied nodding a little enthusiastically and giving off a relieved smile.

Megatron looked around the power station. They had five of the human wokers off to one side in an energy cage of sorts, and the constructicons were finishing their trap. This plan had almost worked once before, maybe it would work better this time. He remembered how they had almost had Prime, and a group of unmarked mechs came out of nowhere. A dragon, a BMW car, A camaro(car) a pickup truck, and two jets. (Syus, Gobee, Mic, Needle, Windstriker and Jade, the original kintari)

He looked over at the building.

Yes, this time it would work.

Meanwhile Saber sat with Windwhisper watching the trap being built idly wondering whether Shadow could see this or not. Hmm she smirked Shadow could not resist them forever and if megatron's plan worked with her wiped memory banks she would not be able to leave.

Sky flapped about in lazy circles up above keeping a watch out for anyone who might report their activities to the local law enforcement, or the autobots. Only when Megatron gave the order would they be bait.

Megatron smiled grimly as the finishing touches were put into place. He nodded to Soundwave. "You know what to do." The cassette player grabbed one of the humans and walked away from the cage. "You won't get away with this!" He yelled up at the silver Decepticon.

"Oh, but I allready have. "Let him go, Soundwave."

The Decepticon dropped the human man. "You're...you're letting me go?"

Megatron loomed over the tiny (to him) human. "Go. Tell the Autobots we have your friends. If they do not surrender, we will destroy them." He aimed his armcannon at the human, who ran instead of asking why he was being freed...

Sky flapped about lazily as he watched the human go without much interest as soon as he saw the autobots arriving he would send word then he himself would hide.

Saber and Windwhisper took up their positions DarkClaw managed to find one where he could see everything yet remain reasonably well hidden Beedrill stuck herself to the ceiling of one of the buildings ready to attack if the autobots took cover in there or got close enough for her to sting. 


	3. Chapter 3

Shadow seeing Ratchet tried to get his attention "err Ratchet do you think; err you check out to see whether my geasult tech can be removed?" she asked as soon as she had his attention. She sounded slightly nervous but otherwise hid her feelings well. She was still upset about what Cliffjumper had said so she was quite unemotionless. Except for the fact that she was as nervous as hell; she usually just buried them.

Bluestatic heard what Shadow said and couldn't believe his audio's well if it worked it would be a good thing but it all depended on the if and he didn't like that one bit.

Meanwhile the Ark's sensors picked up something in the distance slowly making it's way towards them.

Alpha poked and prodded Omega until he finally gave in and the two had started to play video games, but the two saw someone coming. It was a human. They glanced at each other and called Optimus, trying to get his attention.

Kit bounded out to the human, in tiger mode, and poked him slightly. "Hello. I'm Kit." She smiled. She, being five or six, didn't quite realize that the human would probably be afraid of her.

Optimus looked at the twins then at the human who jumped at the sight of Kit "Hello," he greeted as he bent down to the human's eye level "what brings you to the Ark?" he asked

"th...the d-d-decepticons..." the man stammered, looking from tiget to giant robot, as if either was about to pounce on him.

Prime took the human inside and went to his office, where they could talk without the other Autobots eavesdropping.

Kit smiled and bounded after them. She transformed and brought the human a drink.

The human explained about the Decepticons, and their taking up at the facitlity, and Megatron's message to surrender or he'd destroy the humans

Kit cocked her head to the side and then looked at the human. She nudged him slightly with her cold nose, now that she was in tiger mode, and smiled softly, looking like a cute kitten. She shot Prime a worried look, as if saying she knew something was up.

"bb.bb.bbut... those other workers... they need rescued somehow!" the man looked desperately up at the autobot leader for help.

Kit nudged the human and then curled up, looking a cute ball of fur.

Alpha shook her head. She facepalmed.

the human smiled faintly, then nodded. He repeated everything he had heard, and waited for a response.

Bumblebee offered to take him home, and the man thanked him and got in. Prime nodded and offered to have Bee take him to the local hospital and make sure he was all right, but he said he just wanted to go home. He seemed to be allright, just a bit shaken up.

"Very well," he turned to the yello VW. "Just take him home and make sure he gets some rest, and keep an optic out for Decepticon activity, there's no telling what they might do with our backs turned."

"Right." Bumblebee sped away, down the dusty road towards Portland.

Optimus wished them luck and got up from his chair, he hoped he hadn't made a mistake by sending Bumblebee on his own without another Autobot to protect him, considering the Decepticons might try to go after the human after sending him to deliver their message or something.

But he knew that the minibot could look after himself. Prime walked out of his office and headed for the control room.

Prowl was at Teletraan1 when he entered the room, and turned to look at him. "I was informed of the situation allready." he calmly replied. "I would suggest we create some sort of diversion, while trying to rescyue the humans"

Optimus smiled behind his face plate. "If you're suggesting send a rescue party around the back while we surrender, that's just what I was thinking of. It's risky, but it's worth having a try."

Prowl nodded.

Alpha looked up at him. "...Can we go?" She pointed to Omega and herself.

Bluestatic followed after Optimus, to the control room; he somehow doubted Shadow'd be able to go but that didn't mean he couldn't.

"I'll go" he voulenterred; not realling thinking about what Shadow would say; then again it wasn't as if he was a sparkling any more. He could take care of himself.

Prime looked over at Alpha and omega and nodded. Prowl spoke up. "Seeing as how Omega can become invisible, it would be to our advantage to send him in with the rescues party." he suggested. Jade walked in. "I'll go to. I can get down to human size and sneak in. It might help. Prowl nodded.

Optimus nodded "Very well," he said and a red and yellow dragonness walked in, her blue optics sparkled with a bit of pride along with anger and hatred directed at the Decepticons

"I'll go also," she said.

Prowl nodded.

Jade blinked. she'd never seen the dragoness before. Maybe she was new.

Blazestorm had been around the base for about a week or so, but nobody had really seen her. The dragoness kept to herself, more or less, most of the time.

Ratchet had discussed things with Shadow, and because of the mission at hand, he'd have to wait till afterwards to do the primary circuit scans nessesary to get the layout of her circuitry and programming, and find exactly where the gestalt tech was coming from, in order to remove it.

Beedrill started to much on a random bit of rubble she'd picked up earlier. The bee hated this waiting but if she could get close enough her stinger would neutralise the dragon and they'd be able to take her back with them. Repeating this to herself Beedrill managed to stay aboslutely still.

Starscream paced back and forth. What was taking the Autobots so long? were they so daft as to not come to rescue their human 'pets'? he was getting impatient and more than a little irritable waiting around for something he knew was just going to go wrong. He glanced at Megatron. "Just wait. I'l be saying I told you so" before this solar-cycle ends!" he thought with a sneer. He took to the air to circle around and look for any Autobots, being carefull to stay above the cloudline if they were coming.

Prowl, Ironhide, Trailbreaker, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Blazestorm, Alpha, and Wheeljack would be in the 'distraction' group. (Prowl just hoped the twins would go along with the plan long enough for the rescue party to successfully achieve their mission) and Bluestatic, Jade, Jazz, Omega, Cliffjumper, and Brawn would be in the rescue party. Ratchet and hound would stay behind cover out far enough to not be seen, in case things went really badly, and in case they needed one of Hounds holograms.

Bluestatic was driving along following Jazz; all the while keeping his distance from Cliffjumper as he still hadn't forgiven him for being a jerk. He tried to keep his mind off of what Shadow would do to him when he got back but he couldn't help but feel really, really nervous about it.

Shadow, meanwhile, was pacing about back and forth devoutly praying that Bluestatic would be alright. She couldn't go with them because of the danger to herself and to other Autobots but that didn't mean she didn't worry. If they harmed Bluestatic there would be very little she wouldn't do this time especially if she caught them.

Sky was mildly surprised to see Starscream join him in his flapping "Sir is anything wrong?" he asked. An idle memory flashed across his processor of a similar situation. One which he promptly ignored because it wasn't his.

"fine." Starscream replied. "Have you seen any Autobots yet?"

Sky amplified his vision and hovered looking out..."I think I do now; however the dust cloud could be a normal human vehicle, it'll have to get closer before I can tell for sure sir." Sky replied flapping his wings and staying in place.

"Yes it is them!" Sky exclaimed, as the unmistakeable red semi made itself plain. "Sir should I altert the others or would you like that honour youself?" Sky asked Starscream. As he hovered, ready to do what his 'superior' asked.

Starscream clicked his commline on. "The autobots are approaching." he radioed. Megatron grinned. "Get to your positions!" he barked.

The constructicons scrambled to conceal themselves, while Skywarp and Thundercracker stodd at Megatron's side with Soundwave, waiting patiently for them to pull up.

Sky squalked and dived like an arrow landing on top of the nearest building ready to swoop in if needed; otherwise he'd have some fun with his flamethrower.

Jade sat back quietly in the passenger's seat of Jazz's alt. mode, hoping everything would go according to plan.

Prowl was trying to think of every possible scenario, and possible plan Megatron could have in store for them, but there were too many ways the situation could go right now, so it was hard to tell what was going to happen next.

Jazz's group turned and went a different direction from the main group, circling around before coming up on the opposite side of the structure as the main group. "Let's jus' hope Prime distracts 'em well enough we don't get seen." he noted.

He stopped and the human got out, and the black and white transformed and hunkered down behind some rocks, signaling everyone else to follow suit. They waited for Prime and the others to show up before they would move.

Bluestatic followed behind Jazz trasforming and hiding down behind the rocks; knowing full well this was not quite what he was used to; the engineer decided to play it safe by doing exactly what he was told and when he was told.

The saboteur glanced around, not seeing any other Decepticons besides Megatron, Soundwave, and the jets. "Somethin's not right." he whispered. Jade glanced around. "Seems like he'd have more backup if he was about to try and force Prime and the others to surrender." she noted.  
Cliffjumper snorted "Let's just do our job so we can go home"  
Jazz glanced at him. The red minispy knew better than to say anything else, Jazz outranked him. And he didn't want to get in trouble with his superior officer. Not on a mission, especially.

Bluestatic just growled low in his engine he really; really didn't like the mini-spy but right now he had far more important things to think about. He looked about a series of calculations running through his processor about the wall integrity and what kind of strength it would take to knock it down. Door wings twitching Bluestatic knew that something was up; if only Shadow had come along with him. She'd know, he was sure; but she wasn't and he hadn't a clue what was making him so uneasy.

Saber hunched down near the prisoners he cloaking field active; every now and again her tail would twitch. She could smell the autobots she knew that the ones aproaching from the front weren't the only autobots there. But she was patient she knew to bide her time.

Prime transformed, Prowl on one side and Ironhide and the other, the rest of the group coming up behind him. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe glared from behind them. Trailbreaker and Hound were off to one side, hiding beside Ratchet a few hundred yards away, in case their forcefield, hologram, and medical skills were needed.

Windwhisper looked to Darkclaw. "She's not here." he commed him.

"You sure?" Darkclaw asked.

"Positive...the engineer is though." windwhisper sounded amused.

"Hmm perhaps something can come of this, then." Darkclaw replied.

Shadow, meanwhile, back at base felt a jolt through her spark; gasping she knelt to the floor.

With a growl she sent back a message

"Don't. you. DARE!"

Whether on not they would listen was another matter.

Prime stepped forward.

So did Megatron. "Surrender now, Prime, or these humans will die!"

Prime glanced over at the two workers, who were hugging esch other with wide eyes, much to the amusement of the seekers who had their armguns aimed at them.

Prowl silently commed the group.

"::go now::"

"::On it::" came the reply.

Jazz nodded, and the group stelathily crept down to the back of the building, where there was some sort of of garage-door looking door. "Why does this seem familiar?" Jade whispered.  
Jazz looked to the others, and tried to open the door first.

nope.

"Can't say much for tryin ta be sneaky." he whispered.

Meanwhile, out front, Megatron and the Autobots both knew if this came to a firefight, they could get the humans out and send the Decepticons packing. Prowl's processor was running at a hundred miles an hour. They most likely had other Decepticons hidden around the area.  
It was an ambush.

maybe. Or they could be for backup.

But how many could there be?

he silently commed this information to Prime.

Optimus silently nodded and looked directly at Megatron, he hoped that his plan will work "Very well, Megatron," he lowered his weapon and waited.

Megatron grinned. This was almost too easy! "Tell the rest of your troups to disarm and surrender themselves as well, or else." he aimed his fusion cannon at the helpless humans to accentuate his point. The rest of the Autobots lowered their guns, also.

DarkClaw caught Shadow's thought. "If you'd never left, we wouldn't have to do this!" he replied with as much venom as he could muster.

Windwhisper just added: "He's got a point you know."

Sky merely added "Well, we wont hurt him...too much."

Saber, not to be outdone, commented: "Yeah, but megs might."

to which Beedrill replied: "And it will be all your fault."

Shadow, curled up on the floor in her quarters hissed dangerously

"You kill him, or even so much as hurt him, I will throw myself into the nearest most dangerous object; i.e the sun!"

Her worry for her brother caused her to uncurl and pace around her room, her tail flicking every so often.

"You do realise I could tell him and the others. That would ruin your trap." Shadow pointed out, hoping to at least reach a stalemate with them; in order to spare her brother's life.

Bluestatic was quite blissfully unaware of the converstation going on; but something still didn't seem right.

That was, until inspiration hit him.

"I think they're here" he muttered in a low voice..

No one needed to know who they were; It was pretty much obvious. Bluestatic had heard enough about the Rangers to know what each one of them did; their strenghts and some of their weaknesses. Especially after what happened last time... 


	4. Chapter 4

Omega let out an impatient sigh as he flew above. He, like his sister, hoped the humans would be okay once they got them out of there.

Alpha glanced around as she bounced over the road in truck mode. She bit her lip and then glanced around.

Bluestatic looked up. He couldn't see the flier but he knew he was there. Now all he had to wait for was for Jazz to give the word.

DarkClaw looked startled.

"You wouldn't." he replied trying to put as much confidence in it as he could.

"Watch me." came the reply

"But it could be intercepted!" DarkClaw tried.

"So?"

At this, DarkClaw knew that the situation was not good.

The invisible Autobot seeker did a quick backflip, trying to make himself feel better.

Alpha glanced at the mech. "What's wrong?" She asked softly.

"...nothing."

Omega was worried slightly about the humans. But he didn't have to tell his sister, she allready knew it, probably. and was worried just as much as he was.

Alpha sighed and continued to bounce along.

Shadow's tail flicked as she paced around her room she knew she had to get a message through; but then again who should she contact that wouldn't put the humans in danger?

The irritable dragon was not in a good mood at all; right now she wanted to smack something. Sadly there wasn't anything she could hit.

Alpha's audio twitched and she heard a conversation. The femme managed to wiggle her mind into one of the 'Con's, DarkClaw, she believed, and listen.

DarkClaw hissed "Look, if you tell them it's a trap, then static's even more likely to get hurt." he tried to reason.

"Uh huh, yeah. And I can tell them that he's who you're aiming for...so if ya don't mind, I'd rather you stayed out of my head! Besides how the hell did you get in here anyhow?"

DarkClaw caught himself before he said something dumb.

"I thought you let us."

Shadow scoffed "Now why'd I want to do that?"

"You have a point...meh I haven't a clue. Maybe Pathfinder's trying to tell you something." he suggested.

"...don't be dumb. And don't give me all that nonsense again." Shadow sounded irriated.

"What, the fact that were complete when you're with us; hmph hardly nonsense." Windwhisper put in.

"What he said!" a chorus of voices came.

"All of you shove off! If you want me so bad you should either defect or try and catch me...too bad you can't just replace me; I'd love that!" Shadow snarled back.

"No. You wouldn't you want us as much as we want you." Windwhisper stated.

"Hopefully not for much longer." was Shadow's cryptic reply.

Alpha paused at the converstation. She debated telling her friends and decided to do so. The femme commed the leader of the distraction party and told them the entire converstation.  
Prime listened to the silent comm Alpha sent him, all the while keeping an eye on Megatron.

Now he had an even more important desicion to make.

He silently commed "Bluestatic, get out of there. return to base. It is a trap."

Omega flew above them and blinked. "Wha?"

"Don't ask, bro." was Alpha's reply.

The rescue group crept into the darkened building, hearing the humans at the back of the large room, which was towards the front of the building. Bluestatic stopped, and his optics widened. "what is it?" Jade asked.

Bluestatic nodded once, optics growing wide as much as he was loathe to go that fact that Prime knew must have had something to do with Shadow, and he was eager to get back to his sister. Turing to the others, his optics wide, he whispered "It's a trap!"

Omega blinked. He nodded and looked up ahead.

It was at this moment that Beedrill realised their plan was failing with an irritable buzz she launched herself from the rafters and grabbed hold of the engineer.

The other Rangers appeared from the shadows at the back of the room. Jade gulped and glanced back at the way they had came, which was now blocked by one of the leader of the Rangers. a laser blast whizzed past her shoulder.

DarkClaw's massive frame barred the door. As he aimed his gunblade at the autobots "You're not going anywhere" he stated nodding to Sky.

Opening his transmission the pheonix radioed Megatron "Sir we have them; though Shadow is absent; sir."

Saber and Windwhisper flanked Darkclaw, the tigeress and wolf aimed their weapons at the group of Autobots, ready to fire. Beedrill held on to Bluestatic a gun to his head as she hovered.

Back at the ark Shadow snarled.  
"Beedrill put him down." she told them sounding almost desparate.

"Don't be dumb; if I were you I'd hurry up and get here as fast as I could."

With a growl Shadow instead engaged her com. Right now she could wait a little longer but if they so much as hurt her brother...

"Sir, they have Bluestatic. Please I have to help." She radioed Prime on a secure frequency. Her wings fanned out slightly, a touch of pain evident in her voice.

Alpha bit her lip again, suddenly nervous.

Prime paused a half a moment, then said "I'll send reinforcements to help the others." he radioed a couple more Autobots to go around to the back of the building.

"Okay sir." Shadow didn't sound too happy that Optimus hadn't agreed to her request. Then again it might not have been a smart thing anyhow.

"You better not fraggin well hurt him 'drill or there will be nothing I wont do to you as payback!"

"Ooooh i so scared; not." The bee replied as she buzzed just above the ground holding the stuggling engineer.

Bluestatic had contined to struggle the whole time. He wanted to shock the bee, but he didn't know how it would effect the others in the room; especially jade since she was still in human form.

Jade went from human to cybetronian in a blue flash, and reached for her pistols. Meanwhile, outside, the Constructicons were close by, in case Megatron needed backup.

Beedrill buzzed a little higher in surprise as Jade changed she wasn't expecting that! The engineer in her grasp struggled a little more violently.

Seeing Jade was safe now Bluestatic cried out "Hit the deck!" before throwing caution to the wind and using his electical attack. Channelling it directly through the insecticon bee.

Brawn and cliffjumper didn't move, but Jade eeped and dove for cover. Jazz ducked behind a nearby peice of machinery or something as the rest of the Rangers started firing, the two groups exchanging weaponfire from cover.

Brawn and Cliffjumper didn't see the electricity, and thinking it wouldn't harm them, kept firing. Unfprtunately, both got caught. The intense electricity short-circuited one of the nearby machines, and it exploded...

Megatron glanced back as the explosion sounded from inside the building. he looked at Prime. "It was a distraction!" he turned and fired at the humans trapped nearby... 


	5. Chapter 5

Beedrill shrieked as most of the electicity went through her body causing her to drop the engineer; short cicuiting, she collapsed onto the ground.

Imediately, Windwhisper was by her side making use of repair skills and keeping a firm hold on his gestalt-mate's spark.

When Beedrill had let him go Bluestatic had fallen to the ground with an"ouch."

Looking up he saw what he had caused and he looked crestfallen "I...didn't know I could do that..." he spoke in shock and pain; Bluestatic never wanted to be physically powerful he knew what sometimes happened to those who were too powerful and he didn't want that to happen to him.

Shaking his head, the frightened engineer sought to calm himself down he hadn't used enough to short circuit himself but if he used that kind of power again he possibly might.

Darkclaw moved away from the door, but Megatron had allready called for backup. Several more figures appeared in the darkened room.

The Combaticons.

Hound had been sneaking up to the energy cage where the humans were, under the guise of looking like the flatland behind him. He was thrown forward as Megatron's blast hit him in the back. His hand was on the release mechanism, and the force of the shot shoved him into the enrgy field, giving him a nasty shock.

The green jeep blacked out, but not before his finger hit the control switch. The field turned off.

Megatron looked at the autobot who had appeared out of thin air. "Huh?" He fired again, this time at the three humans who were running as fast as they could across the valley. One cried out and fell.

Megatron grinned. The autobots let off a hailstorm of coverfire as Ratchet and wheeljack broke cover to help the humans oput of the path of fire. Megatron frinned and fired again, barely missing Ratchet. He didn't see Prime running up untill the autobot leader punched him in in the jaw.

The seekers took off, strafing the autobots, and the humans. Ratchet and Wheeljack hunched over their protectees, shielding them from bits of rock that rained down on them from the explosions.

Meanwhile, inside, the rest of the Combaticons spread out around the roomr, while Brawl blocked the doorway, which was the rescue party's only means of escape.

They started firing at the Autobot rescue party.

Omega swore from behind something, and fired at Darkclaw.

Onslaught fired a piercing psionic blast at the team.

Jazz winced at the extremely high-frequency audio blast, and Jade covered her ears. The Combaticons pounded forward, outnumbering the autobots by more than three to one, and outgunning them, not to mention blocking their exit.

They were trapped.

It was an ambush.

Alerted by Beedrill's pain, Shadow realised that her brother had done the only thing that he could; concerned for his mental wellbeing she commed him.

"Static; static are you okay!?" Shadow's voice came over his comm

"I hurt them Shad's I...I...I didn't know my electricity had become that strong; Shad's I...I don't know what to do!" Bluestatic replied over his commlink. His voice quivered.

"It's okay bro. It's okay, you did what you had to; and anyone who tells you otherwise is going to have to deal with me." Shadow reassured him.

At that Bluestatic managed to pull himself together and get to safety. He wasn't that good a shot, but decided to do what he could anyway, and fired at the rangers. Hoping against all odd s that he might actually hit something. The high frequency caused him to cover his audios and hunch up where he was sitting; behind one of the remaining pieces of machinery.

Back at base Shadow decided she'd had enough of sitting about waiting. True, she could get captured but when her brother was in trouble that seemed almost trivial. Still, she couldn't exactly defy a direct order. And a comm transmission in the middle of a battle wasn't the smartest thing to do either. Torn between her duty and concern for her brother Shadow wasn't too sure what to do. Still if her brother was harmed out there she knew she'd never forgive herself.

The flames rose higher on one side where one of the peice of machinery had exploded/ caught fire, and thick smoke started to fill the room. The group coughed, trying to keep the smoke from irritating their ventilators, but couldn't exactly stop cycling air because of the air temperature. Sure, they didn't have to breathe, but cycling oxygen was how they kept their systems cooled. Swindle and Onslaught fired a few more shots at the Autobots.

Outside, Prowl directed the ret of the troups while Prime and Megatron continued their fistfight, and kept a lookout for the rescue party.  
Ratchet transformed and zoomed away with the humans, to get them to safety.

Back inside, Brawl hit the roof with several laserblasts right above the groups heads, forcing them to dodge away, out into the open, or be trapped under it.

Bluestatic knew he was stuffed as soon as he started to cough. He was seriously beginning to wish he hadn't used his electricity. When Brawl shot the roof Bluestatic hadn't been able to get away in time and had ended up stuck underneath some rubble. Panicking he did the only thing he could.

"Sis HELP!"

He was pretty sure any autobot could have heard him, but hoped that Shadow in particular had.

Throwing caution to the wind, Shadow decided she damn well wasn't going to let her brother die out there.  
"I'm coming, just hold on."

Shadow wasn't a stealth warrior for nothing; so managed to she leave the Ark with out being seen or recorded.

This time Shadow was going to protect her brother at all costs she'd lost him once it wouldn't happen again.

Blastoff saw the roof cave in, and Vortex, swindle, and Onslaught fired nonstop while Blastoff fired a stun shot at Bluestatic. They heard yelling from the next room. The autobots had been right. There had been other humans here all along. They must have been knocked out...

It seemed Megatron had outdone himself in the planning part of this.

Now, if only they could get to them, and rescue Bluestatic... 


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Notes: I couldn't put this on the story summary, but I'm putting up a rating change notification. I'm not sure how the ratings go for bad language and stuff, so I just put it as T rated.

Warning for bad language and slight um. gore? I guess you could say.

Anyways, there it is. You've been warned.

---------------------------------------------

Bluestatic knew he was stuffed as soon as he started to cough. He was seriously beginning to wish he hadn't used his electricity. When Brawl shot the roof, Bluestatic hadn't been able to get away in time and had ended up stuck underneath some rubble. Panicking, he did the only thing he could "Sis HELP!" he cried out; pretty sure any autobot could have heard him but hoping that Shadow in particular had.

------------------

Throwing caution to the wind Shadow decided she damn well wasn't going to let her brother die out there "I'm coming, just hold on!" Shadow wasn't a stealth warrior for nothing; so managed to she leave the Ark without being seen or recorded. This time Shadow was going to protect her brother at all costs. She'd lost him once it wouldn't happen again...

Blastoff saw the roof cave in, and Vortex, swindle, and Onslaught fired nonstop while Blastoff fired a stun shot at Bluestatic. They heard yelling from the next room. The autobots had been right. There had been other humans here all along. They must have been knocked out...

Bluestatic cried out as he was hit with the stun-gun then he found he couldn't move...'drat' was all he could think of.

Shadow meanwhile was flying as fast as she could she was NOT going to lose her brother; not while she still functioned. When she got close to the factory she transformed and used the shadow's of the building as cover...though it was difficult during the day she managed to get close.

Climbing up the side of the building Shadow clambered through one of higher windows and perched of the support beam near the ceiling. She let out a small hiss and she saw that Static had gotten hit and was covered by rubble. Taking out her sniper rifle she took aim. Now if anyone got close then she would shoot and she was aiming to kill.

-----------

Outside, The Aerialbots appeared, and Megatron finally took the hint. The bulding was collapsing asnyway. Part of the roof caved in, and a few more well-placed shots from the Combaticons took out a bit more of the roof, trapping the rest of the rescue party, and catching Shadow by suprise as her perch began to give away.

Hissing in surprise Shadow managed to get the hint and move to a slightly safer location; however this move brought her close enough to her gestalt-mates in order for them to sense her.

With a sense of grim satisfaction DarkClaw looked right at her.

"Watch as we take what ties you to them." was his message to her as he pried the unconcious Bluestatic out from under the rubble.

"Sir, we have the traitor's brother, and I feel that she is in the vicinity...your orders?" he asked Megatron through his commlink. As he and the rest of the rangers exited the crumbling building followed closely by the Combaticons who stood just outside the doorway in order to finish the job should they need to.

Shadow hissed and tried to fire off a shot, but the peril of her friends managed to over-ride her need to protect her brother; she had to trust that the other Autobots would not let her down. Clambering down slightly Shadow started to work on the rubble that was trapping the autobots all the while her mind was on her brother and how she hoped he was alright.

With a growl Shadow pushed and pulled not caring if her body was damaged or not.

Ironhide and Wheeljack hurried over to help get the trapped Autobots out, and noticed shadow. Ironhide beat Wheeljack to the comment though.

"Ah though Prahm told you ta stay at base!"

He heaved a particularly heavy peice of concrete out of the way. Inferno showed up with the local fire department as the rest of the Decepticons started to leave. The extinguishing fire only made steam, though, and the group coughed as they struggled out. Jazz appearerd from the other side of a collapsed wall, and started to get Brawn out. Jade coughed, and helped them get the rubble lifted to get to where Cliffjumper was still under a rather large pile. The other Autobots came forward, and Hound and Ratchet were off to one side shooting at the retreating group.

Megatron paused and looked back at the group. No, it would be too risky to negotiate in person. It would be too unpredictable to tell what Shadow would do next. he thought.

"Take the traitor's brother and leave." he ordered. He glanced at Prime, who looked like he wanted to continue their fight, had Megatron not been in the air.

Shadow glared at Ironhide; right now she didn't give a damn what prime's orders were. Feeling a need to vent she hissed "Do you seriously think I'm going to stay safe and secure while my brother is out here near a group of nutters who seem to enjoy causing me pain" right now she was angry and her dragonic programming, taking precedent; was making her highly unpredictable and agitated.

Once sure everyone was alright she looked out at the retreating decepticons then back again at the autobots as if trying to decide to carry on helping or to try to blast them out of the air and rescue that which was most dear to her. Growling she turned to leave and stopped. Inside her mind Shadow knew that the state she was in she would most likely make matters worse but yet the fact that her own brother was being taken from her caused a huge pain in her spark.

Still she knew if they did anything to her brother then nothing would stop her from exacting revenge off of the Rangers. Right now though she looked ready to kill.

Darkclaw meerly answered "As you wish" and making sure the engineer was still stuned he transformed into his griffon mode and flew off all the while casting a triumphant look back at the stunned and painstruck Shadow.

Bluestatic on the other hand was panicking. Had he been able to move, or do anything for that matter, he would be struggling with everything he had.. However he was in big trouble. He couldn't move, he couldn't call his sister; he couldn't do anything. 


	7. Chapter 7

Ironhide glanced at the dragonic femme, and decided not to say anything in reply. He hadn't meant it offensively. He did understand that someone she cared about was in trouble, and he'd be upset if he were in her position, too.

----------

Jade tried to say something between coughs, but couldn't manage. By the time the local fire department arrived, the blaze had been put out. She emerged from the smoking building to see brawn and cliffjumper a small distance away, both holding their heads. From being knocked out, she guessed. The jet finally caught her breath. "others... inside.." she coughed, realizing they may have allready found them.

She glanced at the building, and the humans from the fire department and emergency squad scampering about. Two humans, who were wrapped in blankets, were sitting in the back of the ambulance. But where was the third?

Cold dread struck. Then she remembered hearing something, sounds like yelling from the next room.

Megatron had planned for the humans he had on display to be rescued, and had others.

So he had finally created a plan with a backup?

She glanced back at the building, and caught a glance from a very peeved-looking dragoness, and looked away quickly.

Oh, Primus. They had failed!

And now the Decepticons had Bluestatic!

Shadow started to keen quietly at the loss of her brother and after that look DarkClaw had given her, it took everything she had to stop her from taking off after them. She couldn't fight all them at once; her armour wasn't that tough. With a small hiss she made the most difficult decision she'd ever had to make, and walked back in to help with the clean up. All the while she appeared uptight and as though she was barely holding back her emotions. Her wings were curled protectively around her and her tail never stayed still.

As she assisted with the clean up Shadow's thoughts were constantly on her brother; she had to trust that the autobots would help her retrieve him ; then again she thought as she uncovered a familliar and fairly unliked red form; if they dislike me as much as he does there really isn't a hope in hell. With a rather world weary sigh Shadow gently picked up the minibot and carried him outside to where the others being either being repaired or waiting and with the upmost care laid Cliffjumper with the others.

With a longing look at the horizon where her brother had been taken Shadow picked her way through the rubble and over to Jade.

"Look I...I just want you to know that I don't blame you or the others okay?" Shadow felt the need to express that she truly didn't blame Jade or even Cliffjumper (whom she disliked the most) if anything Shadow thought it was her fault, she should have been with her brother.  
The jet nodded, still looking at the burning building.

Shadow gave Jade a careful look "don't worry we'll get them out. Some of them already are," the jet was obviously not feeling alright. Shadow wasn't too sure what to do; she wasn't good at being emotional or helping people who needed comfort. Instead she merey gently squeezed Jade's hand "It's okay" she whispered.

The femmejet just nodded back mutely. she hadn't meant for the 'Cons to get away with Static. none of the autobots had. Now the people from the fire department were yelling to one another.

Shadow noticed Prime coming and mentally steeled herself for whatever was to come, but instead of admonishing Shadow, gave her an understanding look. "We "WILL get him back." he gave the dragoness a decided look.

The red and blue Autobot leader looked up at the now-clear sky where the Decepticons had retreated. They would get Bluestatic back... somehow.

Shadow nodded. however, what he did say caught her off guard for a bit, untill, she finnally managed to pull herself together and answer "I know sir" in a voice so quiet that it was difficult to tell whether she had spoken or not.

The jet just nodded, and wandered over to the others who were still walking around, pausing momentarily to look at the firefighters and inferno, who were finishing the last few licks of flames. One of the humans shouted to one of the others. The jet paused, looking at the scorch marks on the ground, and what she had previously thought was just some rubble from the building. Realisation struck when she caught a glimpse of some fabric.

Something red, it wasn't really an identifiable mass under the tarp one of the rescue workers had thrown over it. She caight site of something something whiteish. She looked up at the Autobots, and where the humans had been imprisoned. So they had tried to rescue them. It seemed one of them wasn't so lucky.

The jet stared at the unrecognisable lump in horrow, then turned away, cold panic written across her features She realized with a shock she'd been staring at the half-burned lump of what was one of the humans workers from the building.

Slagit all to the PIT! why did the humans have to be the ones to get hurt for all their efforts? They hadn't asked to be a part of this!

She distantly heard the rescue workers yelling something about more humans inside, but didn't hear. Her fuel cells heaved and threatened to turn against her, and she took to the air, engines screaming at not having the chance to warm up properly.

She flew higher, faster, so much the earth below became a blur. If there was one thing she couldn't stand, it was to see humans get hurt in the crossfire. And that was exactly what Megatron had done. The one human had been incinerated on the spot with one blast from his fusion cannon.

The bastard!!!

She turned her afterburners a bit higher, excellerating more, trying to do a barrel roll to get her mind off it. Spike and Sparkplug were the same way about humans and getting sick at the sight of blood, yet didn't get sick at the sight of a heavily damaged Autobot dripping fluids and whatnot everywhere, but some of the autobots would get sick at the sight of it. Funny. Cybertronians had the same calm detatched reaction to humans that way. She cursed inwardly, and wished they could have been just a little more carefull about things, or at least WAITED UNTILL THE HUMANS WERE FREED TO START FIGHTING!!

She passed the Ark and went out over the ocean. Maybe she'd turn around in a couple hundred miles and come back.

But there was no excuse for the sloppy way they had handled things! Prowl knew damnwell what the situation was, and he could strategise better than that!!!

so why the hell didn't he!!

Anger crept up, pushing her faster yet. She only paused when her comm radio came on.

-----------

Meanwhile, the Decepticons were headed back to the Nemesis when the stungun's effects were starting to wear off; and Bluestatic was decidedly starting to be a bit of a pain.

"Let me go!" he cried out as his electricity started to build again. Though it would take a while, soon enough he'd be able to give some well deserved payback to these guys. Too bad his comm wasn't working yet though; Because once Shadow knew where he was and that he was still okay then they could both take these guys out together!

The Decepticons who had a hold of Bluestatic swerved slightly to keep their grip on him. Megatron smirked. His plan was coming together perfectly! The docking tower of the Nemesis rose out of the ocean, sending a large spray of water into the air around it, and the door opened, like a huge, dark maw, ready to swallow them up. They flew in, and the door shut with a loud clang behind them, and started to descend.

-----------

"Jade!" Shadow called as the Jet flew off...damn things weren't going all that well today. The dragoness felt her very spark weigh heavy in her systems; the effect of seeing those humans was not a severe on Shadow as it was on Jade. Nevertheless she did feel some revulsion at what the native race on earth had to deal with. With a sigh Shadow realised that maybe Jade needed some alone time and left her to it for a while; her own emotional unstableness was bad enough she didn't want to risk anyone else getting hurt because of it.

When the rescue workers asked her for assistance Shadow agreed and transformed into her dragon mode; using her claws and her body she helped to dig out some of the survivors and some of those that hadn't made it. She would sometimes allow one of the other autobots to use the fluff on the end of her tail to clear away dust and dirt. 'heh I've been reduced to a feather duster' Shadow thought as they did so.

All the while a part of her mind was focused on Bluestatic...and evidently the Rangers weren't showing her where they had taken him. Now she was wondering why.

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Bluestatic however was not liking where he was going and he disliked the docking tower even more...but his electicity was slowly building he just hoped he could swim as well as he thought he could...becuase from what he could see that was the only way he was getting out.

Remaining resolutely silent the whole time he meerly strugled and tried to be a general pain. after all he couldn't do much else. Especially after the door closed; And boy did that clang sound like a death knell.

The lift descended, and Megatron started to come up with the beginnins of various ways he could trick Shadow into surrendering, or force her to surrender to them. Then he would erase her memory, and make her completely loyal to him once more!

His imagination voiced the possibility of forcing all the autobots to surrender, but knew that would be too much to ask. Besides, This entire plan was built around getting shadow back. Once the lift doors opened and they were in the control room, Megatron turned to Soundwave and the Rangers.

"Make sure he does not escape. Keep him unconcious if you have to, I don't care. Just make sure someone is with him at all times. I don't want him to get away." he growled, giving the Autobot a glare.

Soundwave entoned "As you command, Megatron."

He got two steps, and turned to DarkClaw. "Oh, and I want him to remain functional. Do I make myself clear?"

Bluestatic glared back with as much defiance as he could muster. What most autobots and most decepticons didn't know was the Bluestatic wasn't as sweet and as innocent as he often appeared. Shadow knew; oh boy did she know, but no one else did. So a rather nasty plan started to form in his mind; still he was smart enough to keep it hidden right down in the darkest recesses of his mind. So if Soundwave were to scan him he wouldn't find it; still he needed to remain conscious so he decided now would be a good time to comply meekly; even if he didn't feel like it.

----------------------

DarkClaw nodded "As you wish" he replied to the first question his fingers started to dig into Bluestatic's shoulder armour. Illiciting a small whimper of pain from the autobot. To which it seemed Megatron dissagreed. "Crystal sir" he replied. To which Beedrill gave a sour look; she'd wanted to play with the autobot first; nevertheless she'd obey DarkClaw...the rangers always did. Windwhisper just looked at the state of his fellows and gave a mental sigh he'd have to repair them and make sure the pathetic excuse for an autobot stayed alive. oh joy...

Saber herself didn't give a damn about what happened to Bluestatic as long as they got Shadow back. Saber wasn't dumb enough to think that Megatron would continue to do this; sure if they managed to catch the dragon on the battlefield maybe then he'd wipe her memory but only for his own interests. Otherwise he might not think she was worth the effort.

Sky however did spare a thought for the Autobot brother of their sixth. Since in a way thanks to the geasult bond he was their brother too; perhaps there was a way they could all be happy...

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After a while Shadow contacted Jade Hey you okay? You're worrying me...and honestly that isn't normally easy. She continued to help but without her brother to keep her stable she was well aware her mentality was a tad unstable. Meaning no-one should try to irritate her right now; well unless they liked pain a lot.

"I'm fine."

The jet's voice wavered, though.

The autobots transformed and headed back to the Ark, and the rest of Autobot the rescue team were awake and complaining. Even though Ratchet's complaining could be heard much more clearly than theirs.

Prime and Prowl stayed to talk things over with the humans, and explain what had happened.

Shadow sighed No you're not and I can tell...come on, you can tell me whats wrong; I won't tell anyone else. Shadow had taken off and was currently flying in a rather lazily upset manner behind the airialbots. She didn't look down because she knew that the fact that the bright blue form of her brother wasn't there. And right now she knew she couldn't handle it.

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Meanwhile, back at the Decepticon base, the jets threw Bluestatic in a small room and shut the door. They doubted he'd be getting out of there anytime soon. But Megatron had assigned Thundercracker and Skywarp to gaurd him, just in case he tried something.

Bluestatic meerly let out an "ooof" when he landed inside the cell his door wings shuddered by the force of the impact. He glared daggers at the two jets even though they couldn't see him doing so. He was going to kill them if they hurt Shadow; this thought he kept repeating in his mind. She'd be worried; he knew that, but she'd probably also be either panicking or keeping her emotions under wraps. Bluestatic wasn't sure which was worse.

Right now though he had to concentrate on building up his electricity levels...and since metal was a great conductor he could pick up on every bit of static electricity produced in the base and gather it all into himself. Oh yeah there was going to be a rather big shock throughout the whole complex when he gained enough power.

Megatron stared at the computer screen in front of him. He wasn't really looking at it, though. He was thinking. He knew Shadow wass unpredictable, and how she had fought against the gestalt merger, even with a hypno-chip in place, just at the mere sight of her brother. So how was he going to get around that? sure, he could simply erase her memories. But why was he getting the feeling that would last about five seconds once she caught sight of her brother? He could shoot the Autobot weakling, so there'd never be that risk.

No. That wouldn't work either. what if she found out? If he hadn't erased her memory first, she'd go ballistic and try to kill everyone.

Unless...

Unless he altered her memories. Megatron suddenly smirked. Nobody knew what a Cybertronian's mind was like. and even if Soundwave tried, he doubted the cassette host would be able to worm his way all the way into her mind. He remebered even as a Decepticon she had been somewhat strong-willed.  
He didn't even notice the reflection in the monitor, as a scowling Starscream passed behind him, going out on patrol.

The only person that might even come close to understanding the dynamics of a combined mechanism was the person who had worked on the Pathfinder project. A certain Decepticon with a Blackhawk Helicopter alt. mode. Megatron grinned. That might just work. Now, if he could just get a hold of Shockwave... 


End file.
